Technology changed the political landscape of Greek life. What had previously been a society where there were only two economic groups, vastly rich or incredibly poor. Changed to one with a better distribution and the creation of a middle class. Writing allowed for the documentation of laws, both new and old; which held the judges accountable to the people. While it was still a tool mostly for the upper-class, men like Hesiod used it to spread their own views on the current wealth disparity. He could spread political propaganda in a way that was palatable for most people, and specifically the elite. The spread of technology allowed for more power to be put into the hands of all Greek citizens, rather than just the few.
Early Greek society …show more content…
As with most writing systems, the Greek writing system started as a tool for the wealthy upper class. Those that could spend the time to learn and perfect it. Not only did it take time to learn but materials as well, writing in anything more advanced than a wax block was incredibly expensive, and not feasible for those outside the upper echelon. Simply to poses something with writing on it was an incredible status symbol. Nestor’s Cup ca. 750 BCE is an example of an object with writing on it, that is valuable and exotic; possibly just because of the writing itself. The cup is a kotyle, or clay drinking cup found at Pithekoussai in 1954, but it is assumed to have been made in Rhodes. It was found in the grave of a ten-year-old boy, with a three-line inscription of a poem in Eubion on it. All three places mentioned in the life of the cup; Pithekoussai, Rhodes, Euboea, are all incredibly far from each other and suggest that heir must have been something special about the cup for it to travel as far as it did. Another trait about the cup that suggests it was important is that it was buried in the grave of a young boy. The cup is inscribed with a poem of a slightly sexual nature, and is not an object that you would normally assume to be buried with a child. It suggests that this object was treated more as an exotic status symbol, rather than a raunchy …show more content…
BCE. These reforms split up Greece into ten tribes, each consisting of one group from the coastland, the midland, and city. The reasoning behind creating a tribe with people from three drastically different geographic areas was to break up alliances and create a fair and relatively unbiased democracy. During this period, a device called the kleroterion was invented, which was a voting randomizer used for jury duty. Only a member of the Athenian demos, which is the collective body of people, could be chosen to be a part of the jury. To be an Athenian citizen, the person must be 18years old, a non-slave, and a son of citizen parents. As women are not considered Athenian citizens the potential male citizen must trace his lineage through his maternal grandfather to gain citizenship. Once an Athenian man has gained citizenship they receive a pinakia, which was a copper strip stating their name, fathers name, and